Campaigns

The President is the chief executive, primary spokesperson, and overall leader of the UTSU. They set the tone and direction of the organization as a whole.

The UTSU is here to advocate for your rights as students.

Our current focuses include:

#UTSUwithU

The UTSU is bringing forward a set of initiatives aimed at fighting and defending against the negative consequences of the Ontario government’s recently announced changes to postsecondary finance. These initiatives will be unified under our new campaign, #UTSUwithU. We will be working to do five things: (1) Advocate. (2) Consult with you. (3) Inform. (4) Build dialogue. (5) Bring students together.

Materials and Publications

Elections

At the UTSU we feel that it is important for students to engage in democratic processes both on and off campus. We recognize that there are barriers to participation and so we’re actively working to increase awareness and accessibility around elections.

The Provincial Election is almost here — learn about the issues, how to register, and where to vote on June 7th, 2018.

Accessible Classrooms

Many instructors still ban laptops from their lectures, and that shouldn’t be allowed. The arguments for banning laptops are bad ones, and none of the available data supports the conclusion that laptop bans are good for students. More importantly, many students have accessibility needs that can only be met by a laptop. We’re lobbying the university to forbid faculties, departments, and individual instructors from banning laptops in the classroom.

Materials and Publications

Equity

Equity 101 is an open-ended, multifaceted education campaign aimed at making issues of equity and social justice accessible to all students. By taking an education-based approach to equity, we help students understand issues such as that white supremacy, patriarchy, and colonialism are real issues that that affect the everyday lives of marginalized people. Equity 101 is also the broad framework within which the UTSU supports equity-seeking groups on campus.

Resources

Food Security

Materials and Publications

International Students

For decades, Canadian universities have treated international students as a source of revenue and way to subsidize the expenses of domestic students. International tuition fees are completely unregulated, and can increase by $10,000 from one year to the next. To make matters worse, it’s still too difficult for international students to stay in Canada after graduation.

Materials and Publications

Resources

Housing

There’s a severe shortage of affordable housing in Toronto, and students are struggling. On-campus housing is both expensive and in short supply; the university will need an additional 2,000 beds by 2020 in order to keep up with demand. We’re lobbying the city to approve the construction of new residence buildings, and we’re lobbying the university to reserve spaces in those buildings for low-income students.

Materials and Publications

Public Education

We think of universities as public institutions, but government funding for postsecondary education has been frozen since 1996. Now, government funding accounts for less than 20% of U of T’s revenue, and tuition fees increase every year. That needs to change. We believe in public education, and we’re committed to making university affordable and accessible. To that end, we’re working with the university administration and with student associations across the province to lobby Queen’s Park for increased public funding.

Materials and Publications

Sexual Violence

U4Consent is our long-running campaign against sexual violence and rape culture. Our focus is on raising awareness of the realities of sexual violence, with an emphasis on the experiences of queer and racialized survivors. However, we’re also working to reform and improve how institutions like U of T respond to sexual violence. Sexual violence is a problem that requires more than one solution, and U4Consent aims for both cultural change and better policy: